·         What is the “end times?"

The forty-year period of time beginning with the destruction of Egypt as prophesied in Ezekiel 29–30; also referred to the last days or latter years. This period includes the rapture (see below) and the invasion of Israel by “the kingdom of the north” (Ezekiel 38–39), and ends after the seven-year tribulation period.

·         How do you know we are living in this time?

We’re not quite there yet. This period begins with a nuclear war in the Middle East, as outlined generally in Psalm 83 and specifically in other Old Testament chapters.

·         Why does the Bible say there will be a nuclear war in the Middle East?

Psalm 83 describes this war in general, whereas judgment on specific nations is recorded in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Obadiah and other books in the Old Testament. After this war, Israel will be established in her ancient land with the original boundaries promised by God to Abraham (Genesis 15:21).

·         Will Israel destroy the Aswan Dam with a nuclear weapon?

The Aswan Dam (“the tower of Syene,” Ezekiel 29:10) is so massive that it only can be destroyed with a nuclear weapon. Ezekiel 29-30, 32 describes the resulting flood of the Nile as well as the nuclear obliteration of Egypt so that “No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years” (Ezekiel 29:11). Israel is the only nearby power having nuclear weapons.

·         What happens after this war?

The Bible indicates there will be a period of complacency of unknown length—perhaps several decades—culminating with the rapture. Jesus spoke of this time as being like the days of Noah, when men will be “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage… And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away” (Matthew 24:38-39). Israel also will blossom like a rose and become like “the garden of Eden,” overflowing with agricultural produce and livestock (Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 36:35; Joel 2:23–24) during this period. The rapture, which ends this period of complacency, will take the entire world by surprise.

·         What is the rapture?

The rapture is the sudden, invisible return of the Lord Jesus Christ for his church. This will be accompanied by “a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17).

·         What happens after the rapture?

Besides chaos and total world confusion, there will be an accounting of which nations have lost the most people. The US by far will have suffered the greatest loss, so much so that other nations, led by Russia, will invade and conquer what’s left of our nation (Isaiah 18).

·         What is the tribulation?

The tribulation is a seven-year period of intense suffering on earth, punctuated by nineteen direct judgments from God upon the earth and its inhabitants. This period will end with the physical, glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the nations, restore the devastated earth, and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. This period comprises the last seven years of the forty-year end-times period.

·         Who is the Antichrist and is it possible to identify him right now?

The Antichrist is the leader of the one-world government during the tribulation. He will force everyone to worship himself or else be killed. He is also called the Assyrian (Isaiah 10:5–12), the beast, the man of sin, and the son of perdition. The Bible indicates he will be born in northern Iraq (or extreme eastern Syria) and be from a Christian family. He will also be of Greek ancestry, being descended from Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's four generals. Since the end times is only a few years away, it is likely the Antichrist already has been born.

·         What happens after Jesus returns at the second coming?

SHORT ANSWER: Jesus will destroy the armies of the beast and begin his 1,000-year reign on earth. The Old Testament and tribulation saints also will receive their immortal bodies, rewards, thrones and authority, and will reign with him.

LONG ANSWER: This is a good question, although somewhat complicated to answer. At the end of the tribulation, heaven will be thrown open and everyone on earth will see the Lord Jesus Christ returning on a white horse, with his saints following him also on white horses. Starting with a trumpet blast (Zechariah 9:14), the Lord will slay the armies of the beast at the battle of Armageddon with the word that “proceeded out of his mouth” (Revelation 19:21) which physically appears as a mighty cutting tornado(s), and physically minces the bodies of men and beasts from Bozrah in the south to Armageddon in the north, so that the blood from them will  reach in places “even unto the horse bridles” (Revelation 14:20). Presumably all other men on earth who have received the mark of the beast also will be killed at this time in the same manner. Then another trumpet blast occurs (Matthew 24:31), and the tribulation saints (who have the seal of God on their forehead) will be raptured (given their immortal bodies) and taken to be with the Lord. Then, all remaining mortal men will be gathered before the Lord to be judged at the judgment of the nations. Those who helped his tribulation saints—thereby indicating their willingness to receive him also—will live into the millennium and repopulate the restored earth; these are “the sheep on his right hand” that Jesus referred to in Matthew 25:33. The other people who refused to help his tribulation saints will be cast into hell. At this time the tribulation saints and Old Testament saints will receive their eternal rewards, and be given thrones and authority, so that “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). Then, Jesus will restore the earth to its antediluvian, garden of Eden conditions, and assign boundaries to the nations and saints to rule over them, which begins the 1,000-year reign of Christ on earth known as the millennium.